POS, defined as Place of Sale, is an important cornerstone to the manufacturer – rep – distributor dynamic. Why you may ask? It’s not because manufacturers want to track the flow of product or information. The key reason is that […]
Recognizing the challenges that many contractors are facing due to switchgear supply chain challenges, and that the switchgear market is changing, Electra Sales, a five location, multi-state independent electrical manufacturer rep, that is an ESOP, brought on a switchgear line […]
At last month’s NAED National, the association two major initiatives – ProjectNexus (aka Where’s My Stuff) and Careers with Power. I shared NAED’s press release and some questions that distributors and manufacturers shared with me a couple of weeks ago […]
In the lighting world, Q2 started with LEDucation in mid-April and, while the business seems to be steady, for most it appears to be “unremarkable.” And we’re launching the 2026 Q2 Pulse of Lighting survey to verify. What does “unremarkable” […]
Progressive, growth-oriented manufacturers tell their key distributors, and their salesforce / reps that they believe in “innovation.” Some set new product introduction (NPI) goals. Some mention this to their investors / analysts as a way to explain value proposition, performance, […]
While Atkore is a valued supplier to many distributors, and extremely important to many manufacturer reps, even with their “multi-rep / territory” strategy, many have wondered about the company’s longer-term future. Atkore “Cleaning Up”? Over the past few years, the […]
Earlier this year, New England Solutions Group (NESG), a new New England rep firm and lighting agency, launched under the leadership of industry veterans with deep distribution and market expertise. Following the firm’s press release, I spoke with co-founder Mike […]
ESG … sustainability. Many publicly-held companies believe in it and promote it. Some issue lengthy reports about their ESG initiatives. Rather than “just publish,” I frequently ask “what is the benefit of this to end-customers? to distributors?” And surprisingly, 99% […]
While national chains are reporting strong growth as they benefit from data centers and all in the industry seeing topline performance grow due to wire pricing, the challenge is that operating costs continue to rise for electrical distributors. So, the […]
A couple of weeks ago NAED held its 2026 National meeting in Orlando. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend this year as I committed to speak at the Electric League of Western PA on the topic of Improving Project Profitability […]
